Fight urges with the "name 3 things" technique

Hello there rebooters.

I just wanted to share this method of "fighting urges". It has worked wonders for me, and for several other people here on Nofap.


When you face an urge, a negative thought, or a heavy emotion, you don't want to let it wash all over you and take you away.

What is needed is the ability to get back to the present moment. Being here, right now, in the real world, is like a muscle that you can train. When it becomes strong, you can use it to banish urges and automatic negative thought patterns.

A way of training this skill is the "name 3 things" technique. It was originally developed for anxiety patients (you may have seen this in the series Better Call Saul, where it is used by the brother of the main character)

• Name 3 things you can see in front of you ("Coffeetable, Empty cup, red book"). Say these out loud for extra points.
• Name 3 sounds you can hear ("cars passing, birds chirping, some machine running")
• Name 3 things you can feel ("My chin is itching, the wind on my face, the hole in my socks")
• Name 1-3 things you can smell or taste

That's it. After that, you're back in the real world. Now, if the urges come back (and sometimes they do within seconds), you just repeat the process, and try to find 3 new things in each categorie.
After a while of doing this regularly, you should have achieved a steady and reliable way to calm yourself and be able to do it within one round of naming 3 things.